Public Sector

Vanuatu
Agricultural Research and Training Centre (VARTC), undertakes applied research

The
Agricultural College, based in Santo, runs short
courses for farmers delivered by MAQFF extension officers. It is also
developing curricular for horticulture, forestry, and livestock
management course, each of which must eventually be accredited by the
Vanuatu National Training Council, VNRC.

Non-Governmental Organizations

Farmer Based Organizations

Private Sector Organizations or Firms

Related Resources

The Role of Agriculture in Vanuatu

"Vanuatu land is an island nation with a relatively small land area
and population. Only one third of the total cultivable land is presently
farmed. Transport services, both inter-island and intra-island are a
major constraint to marketing and this to increasing productivity and
the volume of production. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector
accounts for around 15% of total GDP and for almost all merchandise
exports.

Vanuatu is still agriculture-based economy with copra,
cocoa, kava and cattle continuing to dominate the sector. Since 2003,
the agriculture sector has grown at an annual rate of 3.3 percent
compared to 2.8 percent growth for the economy and an average population
growth rate of 2.6 percent per annum.

The domestic market for agricultural products is quite limited.
While at least 80 percent of the population reside in the rural areas
and depend on agriculture for their livelihood, productivity,
particularly in the traditional crops sector, is quite low. The export
of high value specialty commodities, particularly those that are
organically grown, represents great potential. In order to increase the
penetration of premium niche markets by these commodities, however, the
volume of production must be increased. The challenge in agriculture is
to increase production and productivity and improve marketing systems
and market access for both traditional food crops and high value
specialty commodities.

The fisheries resources are under-exploited. Improvements in
catching, handling and marketing systems and commercialization of the
domestic fishing industry are badly needed, but the fisheries resources
are probably not sufficient to supply a larger proportion of the protein
needs of a rapidly growing population form local stocks and to sustain
the limited fisheries resources.

Vanuatu posses soils and climate that are conducive to timber
production and environment in the world for raising beef cattle. The
challenges for this sector will include ensuring replanting of trees at a
rate at least equal to the volume being harvested; to foster the
utilization of additional species; and to develop additional value-added
processing. Developing a sustainable forestry sector will depend on
attracting investors for developing larger commercial timber
plantations. A parallel opportunity for development lies on organizing
and empowering mobile sawmill operators to expand into value adding wood
processing."

Ministry of Agriculture, Quarantine, Forestry and Fisheries

"The Ministry of Agriculture, Quarantine, Forestry and Fisheries (MAGFF) comprises six programs namely;

Cabinet support

Executive management and corporate services

Agriculture and rural development (including extension services)

Livestock and quarantine services

Fisheries

Forestry

The Ministry has four major medium-term programs to address increased
resource production, market access and trade facilitation, biosecurity,
and agro-processing and adding value.

The vision of MAGFF is that: The nation’s agricultural, forestry
and aquatic resources are sustainable and managed efficiently, and that
these resources make a significant contribution to the country’s
economic growth and well being of the people of Vanuatu.

The MAQFF
primary roles include: policy making, provide development incentives,
provide administrative and financial management leadership, provide
human resource development assistance; ensure that program activities
are effectively implemented, ensure that service delivery is effectively
provided particularly to the rural sector, monitor revenue collection
and budget expenditures to ensure that revenue targets are met and
overspending avoided, develop a framework of collaboration with the
private industries and facilitate establishment of new investments with
an aim to improve economic growth and regularly asses and evaluate
performance of the program Directors.

MAQFF cabinet and the Director
General’s office and all four (4) Department have their main headquarter
located in Port Vila. The departments also have offices located in
Luganville town, Santo and sub-centers located at each of the other four
provinces (Penama, Malampa, Torba & Tafea).

Facilitate creation of a conducive environment at attract
investments that contribute to economic self-reliance and improving
quality of life particularly at the rural areas

Executive Management and Corporate Services

The Ministry of AQFF executive management and corporate services
function are crucial to the Ministry daily operations. Function includes
human resource development, financial management and control and taking
a leading role in policy development.

The Ministry of AQFF corporate
services is under the Director General. This program will enable at the
Ministry level, to exercise some central control over budgets and
staffing.

Agriculture and Rural Development

The broad objectives of the program is to build an agriculture sector
that is robust and competitive, one that contributes to improved
economic growth and trading opportunities, food security, reduction of
poverty, and improved livelihoods ensuring also that the benefits
derived are equally distributed between the rural and urban populations.

Specifically the program objectives are to;

Assist decision makers in policy advice and planning and enhance
service delivery through adequately funded development programs and
improved management of resources

Assist farmers and industry in the production, processing and trade
of cash crops, thereby increasing rural incomes and foreign exchange

Assist farmers increase the production of food crops to ensure food security

Provide effective research and extension services to assist farmers
improve farm productivity through the sustainable utilization of
farmland and adoption of improved farming systems and

Assist in organizing and empowering smallholder farmers toward
commercial agriculture, such as through producer organization, and
establish a Chamber of Agriculture for this purpose

Provide effective research and extension services to assist farmers
toward commercial agriculture, such as through producer organizations,
and establish a chamber of Agriculture for this purpose

Assist in organizing and empowering smallholders farmers toward
commercial agriculture, such as through producer organizations and
establish a Chamber of Agriculture for this purpose

The Vanuatu Commodities Marketing Board (VCMB) was originally
established to support quality improvement and price stabilization for
copra using EU stabex index. (stabex funds are the European Commission’s
compensatory finance scheme to stabilize export earnings of the
Africans, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries.

Vanuatu
Agricultural Research and Training Centre (VARTC), the Agriculture
College, and VCMB. VARTC undertakes applied research (an important core
role for a government agency), but it has little ability to influence
agricultural development because it is under-sourced.

The
Agricultural College, based in Santo, was funded by the Peoples Republic
of China and commenced limited operations in 2007. It runs short
courses for farmers delivered by MAQFF extension officers. It is also
developing curricular for horticulture, forestry, and livestock
management course, each of which must eventually be accredited by the
Vanuatu National Training Council.

Development

Commodities

The goal of the commodities program is to increase production and
trade of commodities; namely cocoa, copra, coffee, spices, kava and
horticulture and ensure that farmers are organized and empowered with
skills and resources to meet trading requirements.

Livestock

Vanuatu has one of the most conducive environments in the world for
raising beef cattle. Domestically the production of beef, pork, poultry
and sheep/goat for local consumption forms an essential part of the
economy.

Although beef exports have increased in recent years there
remain many capacities hindering such growth. Cattle production is
limited by poor transport, a lack of credit for rural farmers, and
limited government extension programs. Processing for export is rendered
by high quality and freight costs compounded by the relatively
small-scale level of processing throughput.

Forestry

Vanuatu faces a natural constraint to large in production of forestry
in production of forestry products, as even though some 36% of the
country is forested, a large of this unsuitable for commercial logging
due to the poor quality of timber and inaccessibility to sites.

Even
so, lack of sustainable management of the resource is a concern, given
that harvest rates are greater than replanting and the fact that forest
resource has been made. This will greatly facilitate the realization of
opportunities for further growth and development of the sector. The
opportunities include the establishment of commercial tree plantations,
expansion of agro-forestry, greater utilization of timber species other
than the two most commonly harvested, increased use of non-wood forest
products and downstream processing for value added.

Domestic Fisheries

Fisheries development officers support the local fishing industry by
providing equipment such as ice-making machines and fish-aggregating
devices, technical advice, information, training, and improvements to
marketing networks. Most fisheries are in the coastal and near shore
zones, although some deepwater and pelagic fisheries supply urban
markets.

According to the 2007 Agriculture Census, 75% of rural
households are involved in fishing, so it is not surprising that costal
fishing for local markets and home consumption also occurs. Trochus,
green snail, and sea cucumber are harvested, although concerns about
exploitation resulted in a 15 year moratorium on green snail harvesting
that began in 2006, and a 5 year moratorium on sea cucumber that began
in 2008. An aquarium products industry has developed in 2007. See
below.

An aquaculture management plan was also launched in 2008. Aquaculture
began in 2005, when the first local prawn was established. The farm
produces about 30 metric tons each year, all of which is sold locally,
mainly to restaurants and resorts.

Domestic fishing is an important
source of income and nutrition. As the population grows, the pressure to
fish in nearshore areas is likely to increase. Previously, the
EU-funded Village Fisheries Development Project, which ran from 1982 to
1987, and the follow-up Vanuatu Fisheries Training Center and Extension
Services, which ran over two phases from 1987 to 1996, provided support
to rural fishers. Since then, fishes have had little or no direct
support other than assistance from the Department of Fisheries on
establishing cooperative associations for fisherfolk, which resulted in
71 fish markets by the end of 2008. The department is developing a
coastal fisheries policy and plans to provide more support to rural
fishers. This year 2010, the Malampa Province Butchery and Fish Market
has been successful establish, up and running. This enterprise is funded
by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Commercial Offshore Fishing

Tuna, mainly albacore, but also yellowfin and bigeye,is the basis of
offshore fishing. Foreign-flag vessels fish under license; vessel
registered on the Vanuatu Shipping Registry operate as Vanuatu-flagged
vessels. There were 30 such ships license to fish in Vanuatu waters in
2008. In 2008, a total of 142 fishing licenses were issued to foreign
vessels, and 11 to local vessels, resulting in 144.9 million from
licensing and registration fees-more than three times the budget
allocated to the Department of Fisheries for the year.

All the tuna caught in local waters is delivered to American Samoa,
Fiji, or Papua New Guinea. Vanuatu is now seeking to increase the
license fees it can command (thereby generating more revenue) by
processing tuna domestically. It is developing a shore-based processing
facilities; a tuna long lining base at Black Sands in Mele Bay which is
now operating. The plant will be jointly owned by China National
Fisheries Cooperation (CNFC) and Government of Vanuatu (managed by
Livestock Development). It will process and pack the tuna catch of 40
Chinese longline vessels for export. The vessels will unload an
estimated 300 metric tons per month at the main wharf in Port Vila; the
catch will then be transported to the processing plant by road. Thirty
Vanuatu flagged longline vessels are meant to deliver directly to the
second proposed plant in Port Vila Bay, although estimates of the total
amounts are not available.

The Department of Fisheries will be able to better monitor
catches and more readily implement its observer program. A 4% levy on
all fish exported by the processing plants is expected to return about
VT1.4 billion in revenue each year."